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2014 in Review: Some Not-So-Favourites

Although the vast majority of the books I read in 2014 I enjoyed, there were also a few that I either really disliked, or that I was disappointed by in some way, so to put all those new favourites of mine in perspective, I thought I’d share some of my not-so-favourites of the year (but don’t worry, there aren’t too many).

There was a lot of hype surrounding The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, and unfortunately I let myself get a bit caught up in it: I was really excited to read this book! And while it’s not exactly a bad book, I found that the characters were flat and the storyline predictable. Even the cliffhanger at the end didn’t really leave me all that anxious to read more. In its defence, the romance between Evan and Cassie was interesting, even if I wasn’t all that invested in it, and I will probably at least read the second book (which is, thankfully, a lot shorter).

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa was another book that I was initially really excited about, but I thought fell a little short. The main problem in this case was the main character, Meghan, who constantly needed to have everything done for her, and with whom all the other (handsome male) characters seemed to instantly fall in love. I am glad that I kept going with this series, though, because Meghan really came into her own in the third book, The Iron Queen, and so far I’ve really enjoyed the sequel series, Call of the Forgotten.

Once Upon a Glass Heart by Leah Hocking was just something I picked up on a whim, so I didn’t have incredibly high expectations, but after a strong opening couple of chapters, I was hopeful that I’d enjoy it. Needless to say (since it’s made this list), I was disappointed. Bitterly. Once Lily made it to the Kingdom, she spent basically the entire book wandering around completing episodic and unimportant tasks, interacting with utterly unlikeable characters, before ending up right back where she started. By the end of this book, I just felt like I’d wasted my time.

Last of all is The Kill Order by James Dashner, which wasn’t terrible (I certainly liked it better than the last Maze Runner book), except when you take into account that it was supposed to be a prequel. If it had been advertised as a standalone novel (or even as a companion to The Maze Runner trilogy), I think it would’ve been fine, but I expected it to have answers to all the questions that Dashner posed in the original trilogy, and it didn’t. It didn’t even have any of the same characters (except, briefly, in the epilogue), and it asked a lot more questions than it answered, leaving something of a sour aftertaste. While I know this series has its fans (and the film was excellent), I doubt I’ll be reading anything else by this author.